uAvionix Wifi Upgrade - Affects iFly 740 & 740b

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5/27/2022 1:17 PM
 
Brolin McKay wrote:

does your device act strange when connected to any other wifi network?

________________________________________________

Hi Brolin:

The only other network I connect it to is my home network for updates, and no, I've not see any strange behavior from the iFly.

I flew today for about an hour and the error did not come up. So obviously it's intermittent. I did fly in a different area than I did the other day. I don't know if it makes a difference but the next time I fly I'll retrace the route when I last got the error.

George

 
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5/27/2022 3:06 PM
 
Brolin McKay wrote:

does your device act strange when connected to any other wifi network?

 

Brolin, my answer is about the same as GeorgeD's: My 740 usually works fine except for when it AND my iPhone or iPad are BOTH  connected to the uAvionix Ping router. Then sometimes I see the error message and the 740 loses ADSB, but not on every flight.  Maybe it's every-other flight--or maybe the flight duration makes a difference; I don't know about that.

Once in a while the 740 pops up some other WinCE error dialog, but I haven't noticed it for maybe a year, and don't even remember what it said. (I could probably find my reports of it if that's necessary.) I have a hazy recollection that Walter and I traded emails about it once. I think it was related to one certain iFly update that produced an intermittant bug that stayed in several later updates. It began maybe 2 or 3 years ago. I don't know whether it was ever fixed, or not. (Not much help, eh?)

I've learned to live with GeorgeD's bug--although I don't like it. It tends to occur at busy times, like short final, for instance. There are two remedies that usually work around it: 1. Shut the 740 down and restart it (usually works but takes a couple of minutes). 2. Use the ADSB Status instrument (> Options > Reset / Reconnect) to reconnect to Ping sometimes works, too. (Any iFlyGPS can also be reconnected by using Setup > ADS/B (Waiting) > Options > Reset / Reconnect.)

--which reminds me that I'm still waiting for a fix for the iPad Mini 6 Cellular Version crashing instantly when the ADSB Status instrument is touched. The only remedy there is to shut down the iFlyGPS app and restart it. The G-Load and Ind.Alt instruments are similarly affected. No other instruments are involved in this bug; I've tried them all.

The crash happens so fast that it probably isn't recorded in the log. I suspect that something in your code related to those three relatively recent instruments is at fault--because none of the other instruments crash in this way. I don't know whether it's limited to the cellular version or also affects the iPad Mini 6 Wifi Version. But the cellular version was released almost a year after the wifi Mini 6, and Apple says (somewhere) that they are different in several significant ways.

In any case, If you guys still don't have an iPad Mini 6 Cellular Version to experiment with, I'll be happy to test any code you send me.

 

 
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6/1/2022 7:41 PM
 

I may have found a workaround for the 740's problems with staying connected to the uAvionix Ping router when a second device is also connected to Ping.

Yesterday I started my iPad (Mini 6 cellular version) before powering anything else on. Then I turned on the avionix switch, which powered up the radio and all of the uAvionix equipment. I waited another minute and checked to be sure the iPad was connected to Ping, then powered up the iFly 740. From then on I did the usual taxi, runup, and takeoff. I flew for 1.7 hours. Both the iPad and the 740 were displaying ASDB data for the entire flight and showing traffic when there was traffic within the preset distances. The 740 never disconnected, and there were no WinCE error messages.

So that's an absence of negatives, not a demonstration of positive performance. But it's heartening anyway.

 
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6/21/2022 10:08 PM
 

Update:  The ADS-B workaround I've been trying--start the iPad first, then be sure it has connected to the uAvionix Ping router BEFORE starting iFly--has produced only one negative experience in 6 flights. One time a WinCE error dialog popped up, but I was busy and dismissed it without noting what the error was. Except for that one flight, the 740 has found and diplayed ADSB traffic normally, and the iPad Mini 6 has also detected and displayed it. So in other words, there's no hard evidence that the workaround doesn't work. So far, so good.

 
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